Ends tomorrow

The Lower Mainland’s newest online marketplace will open on Monday, April 28, when LikeItBuyItVancouver.com begins previewing a limited-time sale of everything from household goods to consumer electronics to cruises, travel, cars, gift cards and personal services.

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Tax-free savings

Prominent B.C. economist J. Rhys Kesselman is horrified by the Frankenstein’s monster that has evolved from a tax policy idea he advanced in 2001. Kesselman, in a paper he co-wrote with Finn Poschmann...

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VICTORIA — Mistaken jackpots, free slot machines and unpaid loyalty rewards are just some of the technical malfunctions, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the BC Lottery Corporation has filed with provincial regulators, according to a new list. The Crown gambling corporation recorded 22 technical problems with its gambling machines and software over the past four years, according to a government list released to The Vancouver Sun.

Early retirement has become a wishful fantasy for many working Canadians, with nearly one in five never expecting to completely retire, according to a Conference Board of Canada survey. The survey of 1,656 adult Canadians — done in June — revealed that 60 per cent of respondents feel they have not saved enough for retirement, while 19 per cent agreed with a statement that “I will never retire.”

Canadians are planning to take on $19,534 in household debt over the next year — a number that climbs to $31,084 in B.C., according to a BMO report. The “psychology of debt” report, released Friday, found most people plan to pay off their debts within seven years. In the meantime, stress from those debt levels is affecting their daily lives.

Post-secondary students in B.C. expect to spend an average of $1,201 on back-to-school purchases this year — slightly above the national average of $1,121. One-third of them will be relying on the assistance of family or friends to cover those costs, while another 25 per cent will pay with a credit card.

A group of Vancouver-area retirees with long, strong histories in the financial world are crunching numbers and twisting arms to push for the reform of tax rules that currently heighten the risk of seniors outliving their savings. Their target is the RRSP/RRIF rule, the subject of a couple of my columns last winter, that require seniors older than 71 to annually draw down a hefty percentage of their tax-sheltered savings — 7.38 per cent in the first year, and up to 20 per cent by age 94.

WASHINGTON - A child born in 2013 will cost a middle-income American family an average of $245,340 until he or she becomes an adult, with families living in the Northeast taking on a greater burden, according to a report out Monday.

Canadians should look to fly on a Tuesday if they're travelling domestically or on a Thursday if they're leaving the country, suggests data from the travel website Kayak, which is looking back on its first year in Canada.

British Columbia companies raised more money privately outside of stock markets in the last five years than they did through more closely regulated stock exchanges, which is prompting the B.C. Securities Commission to tighten up oversight of the so-called exempt market for investments. The securities commission found that B.C. companies raised $45 billion through private-placement sales of their securities directly to investors between 2010 and 2013, compared with $25 billion through public stock exchanges such as the Toronto Stock Exchange or the TSX Venture.

Kudos to the B.C. Egg Marketing Board for labelling Wednesday's made-for-media event in down-town Vancouver - the unveiling of a life-size fire truck made from, of all odd things, egg cartons - as an exercise in "eggonomics."

Digital Life writer Gillian Shaw takes a look at Microsoft’s new Surface 3 - a cross between a tablet and a notebook computer. Here are five features that might it a good choice for students or people on the go.